Why design tokens are the future of design systems.

05/10/2025 • by Marco Schär • 5 min read time •

Design systems are the backbone of modern product development. They are intended to ensure consistency, boost efficiency, and simplify collaboration between design and development. But all too often they remain patchworks of Sketch files, Figma libraries, and code components that are never truly synchronized. Design tokens solve this problem at its root.

What are design tokens — and what are they not?

The new EU accessibility guidelines require that all websites and digital content be designed so that users with impairments can access them without problems. Companies that do not comply risk heavy fines and legal consequences from mid-2025. Therefore, it is essential for every company to take action now. The following guidelines should be observed:

Whether this value appears in Figma as a color, on the web as a CSS variable, or in iOS as a UIColor — it does not matter. The token is the single source of truth.

Why are design tokens strategically relevant?

Design tokens are not a technical detail but a strategic lever:

Consistency: A color value is maintained centrally — no more discrepancies between design and code.
Scalability: New brand colors? New themes? With tokens they can be rolled out globally and automatically.
Tool-agnosticism: Design, web, mobile — all platforms speak the same language.
Speed: Design and development teams work in parallel on the same system without manual translation work.

And the best part: design tokens make companies independent of individual tools. A Figma design system is good — but a token-based system is future-proof.

The strategic advantages at a glance

Advantage	Without Tokens	With Tokens
Design consistency	Manual coordination, high error rate	Centralized, automated control
Scalability	Changes must be made individually in each tool/repo	Changes apply everywhere at once
Tool migration	High migration effort	Tokens stay the same, only the tools change
Speed	Many manual alignments	Automated handover Design → Code

How to implement design tokens sustainably

A few JSON files are not enough. To use design tokens effectively, you need a clear plan:

Structure & naming: Token names must be clear, consistent and understandable in the long term (e.g. color.primary.background.default instead of bgBlue).
Tooling: Tools like Style Dictionary, Tokens Studio for Figma or Git-based token repos provide automation.
Integration: Tokens should serve as the source for CSS, Android, iOS, React Native, etc. — not as manual copy-paste.
Governance: Who maintains tokens? Who is allowed to change them? Without clear responsibilities, things quickly become chaotic again.

This is how we approach the topic at minddraft:
We consider design tokens not merely as a tech project but as a change process within design and engineering teams. We help teams not only install tools but establish a sustainable mindset. We ourselves work with design tokens daily — in Figma we use our own Adamantium Token Lab plugin as well as Tokens Studio to manage tokens structurally, synchronize them and integrate them into productive workflows. Our token architecture is set up so that it controls both design systems and code bases across platforms.

Conclusion: Design tokens are the key to scalable design

Anyone who continues to manually translate between design and code loses speed and becomes dependent on individual tools or people. Design tokens are no longer a nice-to-have. They are the standard for every modern design system.

Our advice: Start small — but start now.
Analyze where you currently have to synchronize design decisions manually. There lies your greatest leverage for tokens.

👉 In upcoming articles we will dive deeper into specific topics — for example, what a sensible naming strategy for tokens looks like, or how our Adamantium Token Lab automates workflows in Figma. Stay tuned.

Categories:UI Design-Systems